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Viral Battle: McDonald’s versus Taco Bell

It’s been common knowledge that fast food competitors are quick to attack each other when it comes to their menu item selection. In recent news, Taco Bell was forced to take on McD’s (who controls the majority of the fast food breakfast market) when creating their own breakfast menu option.

McDonald’s was quick to respond with a Twitter post after the announcement was made:

Captioned, "Imitation is the best form of Flattery." — Cleverly captioned, “Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery.”

The tweet (and diss) scored 2.4K favorites and 3.2K retweets but wasn’t prepared for the creative minds on Taco Bell’s Public Relations staff.
The taco company then set a commercial campaign into action centered around McDonald’s fictitious and famous celebrity Ronald McDonald, starring actual people named Ronald McDonald. The video in fact is getting a lot of buzz, gathering over 2 million views on YouTube and likely many more after being aired on national television. Taco Bell Public Relations has that humor filled type of style that is share-worthy for many fans. This always brings me back to the belief that “content is king” in this day and age, and the more you can make the more there is to share about your brand’s personality. It’s incredible checking out Taco Bell’s official Twitter and getting the feeling that it is run by a teenager (it totally isn’t but the tone of voice is what’s crucial here). In an age absorbed with viral content what is more amusing than watching two giant corporations (well, McD’s is severely larger, but y’know) rag on each other publicly. And what does this say about Public Relations in this day and age?

Branding has gone to a-whole-nother level when it comes to personifying a business. It has been clear to me in every Communication class I take that the target market is the most essential discovery when it comes to positioning just how you will sell your product. And furthermore just as fictional accounts have been made by fans and used to create a profile for a character from a TV show, game, or movie, now company’s are using this idea to turn their brands into an identifiable entity themselves. It generates an environment where consumers feel comfortable talking with the much larger corporation on a conversational level. This type of tactic is quick to deal with and fun to operate. The only way I see Public Relations advancing through social media from is here is more creatively. With this ever-increasing freedom for companies to produce their own content, the pool of creative thinkers in this field will only become more diverse and more entertaining.

Ads will be here forever, so why not give companies more motivation to charm instead of bore us?

Yes, Google knows how to handle “Glassholes”: The San Fran Incident

Meet Sarah Slocum, the first ever Glasshole martyr in real life history,

Okay so she’s not actually a martyr, but she is fighting for something… or at least picking fights in San Fran bars with people over her Google Glass-wearing.

The story begins in a humble bar in San Francisco, and Ms. Slocum is viciously attacked from all sides and has her purse and tech gear stolen at the scene by, in Slocum’s words, “haters” which results with poor Sarah filing a hate crime. The tall tale is picked up by several news stations and is often titled something like dramatic like “When Google Glass Haters Attack.” Of course this version of the story doesn’t last for long when the other side of the argument had a chance to shed light on their version of the incident, involving a very drunk Slocum getting in a painful curse-word fight and eventually having her glasses removed. Reports will later show all her possessions were safely returned and no charges were finalized.
At this point I am through with talking about poor Sarah Slocum whose reputation has been thoroughly destroyed (seriously just search her name on Twitter).

Nothing is safe from angry Twitter users: Slocum's Facebook cover photo — Remember kids, nothing is safe from angry Twitter users: Slocum’s unfortunate Facebook cover photo

But more importantly, there’s actually a good story here. Just think about the PR technique utilized by Google when dealing with this unattractive headline about their newest product!
Well I know I paid attention when this story took place, there were a lot of lessons about Public Relations coming into play in this scenario. First off, Google had to gauge how far this story spread (and being from Texas, I sure had to search around to find details on this one). It seems like this is a big story in San Francisco, where many native San Franians (or whatever you call them) have been dealing with this weird shift of techies taking over their down-to-earth city. I also was weird-ed out to find out that the people in San Fran’s tech industry are being catered to by special bus services and the like exclusive to only those in that profession. This kind of problem may prove to be a regional one.
The next step for Google would then have to be their tactic for response: Would they side with Slocum? Would they condemn her?
Answer: Neither! They would distance themselves from such unappealing topics in general.

Instead their PR person got to the bottom of it and does what Google does best: create an optimistic and casual outtake.
The company did not address the “hate crime” in either fashion, but instead released a charming set of do’s and do not’s which represented the company in a confident light. This form of Public Relations thinking stuck straight to the plan of pushing forth valuable public information of how to act when wearing Google Glass instead of touching on all the negative atmosphere that the technology had accidentally generated. Even now if you decide to check the Google Glass website for this list, its not easy to find. Stories like these always remind me how easy crisis can blow over if you have the right technology and are ready to be confident about your product. So like Sarah Slocum would probably say, God Bless Google!

Tumblr beats out Facebook and Twitter when Apple finally chose to Debut

It has been common knowledge that the Facebook user population is slowly being replaced by younger people with older people. And we all know Twitter’s audience is wide-spread and often used by adults. But what about Tumblr? The sneaky little blog site that captures the attention of tweens and teens?
Turns out that this site is where Apple has decided to debut it’s social media presence. Tumblr is known for its creative features, allowing users to personalize their blogs accordingly. This is the first time that a huge brand will be infiltrating the blog site and attempt to establish themselves as someone worth following. Because Apple is known for its creative efforts and aesthetic strategy, both company’s are optimistic about their future together.